Standard dimension containers are used for transporting numerous types of materials. Shipping containers in particular are formed with a fixed height and width but with lengths between 20 or 40 feet. The transport industry uses a significant amount of infrastructure to handle and transport these standard size shipping containers.
To utilise a container efficiently as much of the cubic volume of the container should be filled. This can be problematic when particulate materials or large numbers of small articles are to be loaded through the front door of a container. This can result in heaps or piles of material collecting inside the container which do not easily reach the container ceiling and hence does not maximise the use of the whole volume of the container.
For particulate materials or other types of loads which could be poured, it is preferable to tip the container to facilitate a gravity fed loading operation. Tipping a container allows materials to be poured into it and fill the container efficiently.
Furthermore, such particulates or pourable materials can also be unloaded from a container through a gravity driven unloading operation if the container is tilted.
Such containers may be quickly unloaded when their rear doors are open and the container is tilted.
However tilting shipping containers is a difficult operation due to the size of such containers and their final weight once loaded. It is possible to tip a shipping container using a forklift acting on the front open end of a container. However this is a slow and unstable process requiring a large, expensive and high capacity forklift. Furthermore such forklifts are limited with respect to the maximum angle to which they can tilt a container.
It is also possible to tilt a container through the use of cranes or articulated lifting arm systems. Container lifting arms have been developed to lift and lower containers from the beds of trucks or similar vehicles. However, these systems are focussed towards only displacing a container sideways and down to unload a container or the reverse operation to load a container onto a truck or trailer bed. Cranes do have the potential to lift one end of a container, allowing the opposite end to swing freely in the air as the container is lifted. As can be appreciated by the skilled in the art, this is a dangerous operation as gusts of wind or knocks to the container may cause it to swing around wildly.
It would be preferable to have a container tilting apparatus which addressed any or all the above problems. In particular a container titling apparatus which could tilt a container to a high angle of inclination both safely and quickly would be of advantage.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
It is acknowledged that the term ‘comprise’ may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term ‘comprise’ shall have an inclusive meaning—i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term ‘comprised’ or ‘comprising’ is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.